Flying behavior changed - go for PM or Rollover?
 

Hello folks,

So I've changed positions within my organization (promotion, yay). Instead of routine bi-weekly travel I'm back in the home office (NYC). I usually do infrequent personal travel to visit friends and family (5 or 6 RTs per year) combined with one TATL (Europe vacation) or very rarely a TPAC (Hawaii/Australia/etc.).

Business travel will be occasional (3-5 a year) TATL from NYC to London / Paris in cheap coach. By the end of June I'll have 68,000MQMs.

I'm allowed to pick an airline and would rather keep Delta since I have zero status with any other carrier.

Goal is to maintain elite status for as long as I can, even with decreased travel, due to (possible) upgrades & op-ups, IROP handling, baggage, etc.

So, should I go for PM (I have been debating NYC - SEA to visit friends, and that, combined with the rest of the year infrequent travel will push me over 75,000) or stop short so that I have enough to easily make SM/GM again next year?

The TATL biz travel I will be doing is anticipated to be somewhat without lots of advance notice (3-4 weeks) so it's possible that I could legitimately book YBM to take "advantage" of PMUs... Also, Mrs. Ross will be accompanying me on the leisure travel so gifting her Silver would be of help in terms of the upgrade lottery... Or, alternately, the 20K miles would be nice.

But, if my flying next year takes (ahem) a nose-dive then I could see the value of stopping short and easily clearing Silver with my first flight of 2011 ensuring some level of status through March, 2013.

I'm leaning towards stopping short and earning Silver/Gold next year, but I'm curious if there are other interpretations or perhaps some variables I'm missing.

Thanks!!!!

(As a GM based out of NYC, I've had great upgrade luck (knock wood) so PM vs. GM priority is a low-order term in the equation...)

So does this mean that your old position is now open? I love to travel and would love a new job. :D

If this is true, than I think pushing to PM is a no brainer. You effectively will get to fly BE on 2 roundtrips instead of Coach. That to me would be the deciding factor.

Even if you end up losing the Silver Status you would have in 2013. For me, being able to fly BE on TATL twice supersedes wanting a NYC-ATL upgrade.

Hmm, you're right. I guess it really is:
2x TATL BE > FO for 2012?

Actually if you are PM in 2011, I think you would drop to GM in 2012 if you don't qualify. But I'm not sure - someone else can comment on that.

I don't think that is the case. If you don't get the MQMs then you don't make it to GM. Soft landings seemingly went away with rollover.

Go for Plat.

My guess is making FO will be easy with 5 or 6 RT, plus one TATL or TPAC. If you are just shy, you can always plan an extra leisure weekend to rack up some MQMs

Go for PM
 

Go for PM - rollover anything above it.
You can take the PMUs for BE, but I would rather take the Silver gift for Mrs.
The 20k miles are worthless anyway in comparison.
Even if you take a few cheap T fares all of next year, you will get upgrades and will get enough time in 2011 to qualify for Silver by Dec 2011.
You can always get a few DR MQMs as well or Amex DL Plat MQMs if you do not manage it in 12 months.

Agree with the above. I would also suggest looking at the feasibility of one-way flights on TATL travel in order to extend the PMUs. For example, using one-way tickets you could purchase a Y/B/M for the outbound and, assuming ug space available, use the PMU to upgrade to BE for the overnight TATL. Since the return will be during daylight hours, purchase a lower fare and get a good seat in coach.

I am having the same debate as you. I will definitely make GM this year but think I want to stop short of PM because I anticipate my travel will decrease significantly in 2011 and I'd like to be able to make SM with just a few flights in 2011. It's an interesting set of incentives that roll-over has provided us with.

soft landing ?
 

So what is a soft landing in 2010 ? Or should this be a new forum topic ?

I haven't seen any official DL policy on this but I suspect you are correct. My wife benefited from a soft landing a couple years ago but I think you nailed it with rollover. They might make an exception maybe for MM's but I can't see it going any further than that.

SMS called me late last year about another matter and I actually questioned them on the soft landing question given the implementation of rollover. The very nice lady in Dallas, TX, said absolutely there would be no more soft landings due to rollover coming into effect. No one that I know or have heard of on FT reported a soft landing this past spring so I think we can say goodbye to that for good.

Feels good not to be the only one wrestling with this. In my case, have already requalled for GM, but am going to be close for PM by year’s end. Pretty sure I’ll hit it, but won’t leave much for rollover MQM if I do. Unfortunately, an annual RT to Hong Kong that’s helped push me over the top the past three years may not be part of the mix next year, which would mean rebuilding from zero or close in hopes of even catching SM the following year.

Yikes.